Danielle’s request wasn’t surprising. The faith of the natives came from their ancestors, and their defeat had shown the unavoidable weakness of the transformation.
It wasn’t much a matter of losing their individualities. That was just another path that anyone could choose to take. Yet, the mental instabilities were an issue that made the natives behave like beasts, which was something that mighty cultivators simply couldn’t accept.
After all, it was undeniable that the lack of control over their instincts was one of the main causes of native’s defeats. It was pointless to have a superior power if they didn’t have the mental capabilities to use it.
The Demons glanced at Noah. They didn’t know if he could promise something like that, nor if he wanted to. It wasn’t a matter that concerned him personally in the end, so they would understand if he decided to refuse.
"It will take time, and it won’t be my priority," Noah said. "I might do it as a favor if you perform well."
"That won’t do," Danielle replied. "We followed our ancestors because they gave us hope in breaking free of the limitations of our species. We won’t follow someone who isn’t even able to promise us a future."
The Demons felt angry at her words, but Noah only fell deep in thought.
When his body reached the fifth rank, his pride as a hybrid had skyrocketed. He had become an existence meant to rule over other magical beasts at that point, and that part of him had grown stronger as he improved.
It was his pride that had allowed him to contain the primary energy for the first time. It was his pride that had given him the influence to create a tide of magical beasts and uncover the defenses of his family and the other nobles.
The truth was that he had never wanted a throne. He had only given orders when June or his interests were involved, but he didn’t plan to do that often.
Yet, his pride was something that inspired other cultivators to follow him, and it even influenced their powers in some way. Those effects were unintentional, and Noah also failed to notice them at times, but they existed, and it was his choice whether to deal with the consequences.
"Very well," Noah answered as soft growls accompanied his voice. "Follow me in battle, and I’ll show you how a hybrid should fight. As for your mind, I’ll just sever it from your body and put it into another one if I can’t find any other solution."
Then, he picked his inscribed notebook and requested for an oath able to restrict Danielle.
"Prince, are you sure?" Dreaming Demon asked. She didn’t want to see him bound to a promise that he might not be able to keep. After all, Noah himself had that claimed that there wasn’t a solution to the mental instabilities of the hybrids.
"I’ve already created life and destroyed my connections with Heaven and Earth," Noah started to explain. "The fact that I don’t see a solution now doesn’t mean that I won’t find it in the future. My ambition is boundless. I won’t let the fear of failing to get in the way of my path toward the stars."
Both Demons fell silent at his words. That was the first time that Noah had expressed his individuality so openly.
"Being too ambitious can ruin any cultivator, Noah," Flying Demon commented after a while, but Noah only shrugged his shoulders.
He remembered the pointers about the individualities that Chasing Demon had given during the banquet, and he knew that his ambition could become a problem in the future. Yet, he couldn’t change who he was.
"My life started with my ambition," Noah explained. "If it ends because of it, so be it."
The Demons didn’t speak any more at those words. Noah’s aura was resolute and sharp, without even a trace of doubt in its flow. It was rare for a relatively new rank 5 cultivator to be so sure of his path, but Noah knew his destination already, even if he didn’t know what kind of being he would be at that point.
An Elder eventually arrived, and Noah sealed an oath with Danielle. The Hive would grant some amount of freedom to the hybrids after the assault to the Empire, but it would regulate them too. Also, any criminal that didn’t follow the rules would instantly become a guinea pig for some experiment.
Of course, that pact involved only the perfect hybrids and not the magical beasts that had transformed due to the compound. The Hive would still be able to create conscious Cores from them if it invested some time in nurturing the newborn mental spheres of those creatures.
Their freedom would then increase with time, according to their achievements inside the Hive. As for the issue with the mental instabilities, Noah and Danielle didn’t set a time limit. He just had to find a solution before leaving the lower planes.
By the time Noah sealed an alliance with Danielle and organized the hybrids kept captive in the Hive, the human troops were ready to march toward the territories of the Empire.
Noah flew toward the central territories past the azure plain together with Elder Austin, Elder Julia, and Danielle. They would be the rank 5 cultivators deployed in the first assault at the central areas inside the domain of the Empire, but they weren’t alone.
The Elbas family and the Council had deployed a similar number of powerful assets on their respective borders and were ready to attack the central territories too. They were just waiting for the powerhouses to give the order.
Of course, the rank 5 cultivators wouldn’t join the battlefield of the assets in the fourth rank, nor involve themselves among the human cultivators that had yet to invade one of the habitable areas. They had enemies suitable for their level to face.
"I don’t like to have her here." Elder Austin said as he glanced at Danielle.
"Her oath is so strict that she would die before even thinking of attacking us." Elder Julia said, uncaring of the tall mantis flying next to them.
"I don’t agree with your presence here too, Prince," Elder Austin continued to express his complaints. "You don’t need to join the first battle, nor this war in general."
"I want to fight, Austin," Noah said while wearing an eager expression. "I want to see where I stand compared to other rank 5 cultivators."
Elder Austin simply sighed at those words and focused ahead. There were many buildings with the emblem of the Empire ahead and a series of human cultivators between them, ready to defend their city. In the sky, there were twenty or so cultivators in the fourth rank, a number of assets that matched the rank 4 cultivators deployed by the Hive in that battle. Further above, there where four rank 5 cultivators wearing stern expressions.
Both forces seemed equally matched, but that only because the Empire had to defend three fronts.
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